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JUST Released! The new Motorola Xoom! It is supposed to be in competition with the Apple I Pad. It has the Android 3.0 honeycomb Operating System. Some features include a HDMI port, USB port, 32 GB Hard drive, 1GB RAM, and front and rear facing camera.

It is available with 3G and upgradeable to 4G, or you can just stick with WiFi.

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I’m really looking forward to some of the changes that are coming with CRM 2011, particularly the new enhanced workflows that will allow for user input. This looks like it will be a very powerful tool.

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Great article on TechCrunch today, describing sales staff, how they work, and things you need to know to get the most out of them. It discusses mostly how startups should deal with them, but I often see this behavior in companies we work with.

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Microsoft CRM 4 is a great CRM system, however there are a few things about how Microsoft implemented some key aspects of it makes me wonder if the engineers at Microsoft spent enough time thinking through the architecture.

A perfect example of this is CRM Plugin for Outlook. The basic design assumes that each user will install and configure the Plugin to work correctly. Here are a few problems with this design:

1. Client Side Calendar Sync: One of our clients have many internal staff that create calendar entries on behalf of their sales staff. The calendar sync does work, however Outlook has to be open in order for the calendar entries to sync. This is in my opinion is a major design flaw. In today’s world people rely on their mobile device to see their calendars and asking sales staff to have Outlook open all the time does not always seem like a good solution. Exchange and CRM are both Microsoft products why can’t we have a server side calendar sync tool?

2. Email sending. There are two options here, but each has its own flaws. The CRM for Outlook has the same client send problems described above. The CRM router is a better solution, however it relies on manual intervention for adding and removing users. Again both CRM and Exchange are Microsoft products. Why can’t the email part be seamless?

3. CRM Plugin installation. The CRM Plugin can be installed through the web site. On a recent client engagement they wanted all their clients to have the latest plugin. Some of the users had rollup 3 (don’t get me started on the build numbers instead of the a simple version number) installed, which is a very old version. I tried to upgrade the clients directly to rollup 15 however rollup 7 is prerequisite. So instead of just doing one update I had to do two. For the clients that did not have the CRM Plugin I couldn’t use the rollup 15 directly. I had to install rollup 3 first, 7 then 15. What a pain. The CRM Plugin should be a simple installation and it should just work…

When people follow those guidelines for me, I often delete their resume on the spot. In fact, I would prefer if I always received:

1) A great cover letter, telling me about yourself, where you’ve been in your career, and what (specifically) you’d be doing in your first 90 days to help out our company, and best integrate into the team. I want to see how your write, what you feel is important to tell me, what you know about us, and how you communicate your ideas and value.

2) A quick overview (bullet items) of the skills you will bring to the table. Not “basic knowledge of”, I’m talking actual skills. Things you are confident in, day 1, that you can deliver.

3) Always, always, always include your references. I feel it is lazy to make us chase you down for them.

4) Disclosing too much, especially around compensation, is never easy. But you should be able to give a prospective employer guidelines on “what ballpark” you are looking for. Nothing is worse (for both the candidate, and the potential employer) than sitting through a great interview, only to find out that pricing on both sides is not even close. I recommend focusing your words on “my ability to make”. This can be a range, and shows you are also future-driven, instead of “what you want now”. It would be easier to negotiate backwards from there on “what needs to happen” in order to get there.

I feel your resume is a time to shine. If you leave it too basic, or just plain leave things out, you run the risk of an employer just passing it by. I agree with the article that your resume should leave me “wanting more”. However, the only way it will do that is if I find what your are projecting as interesting. Reading a one-pager without much substance never gets a meeting with me, while reading a 5-pager makes me feel they are overcompensating or padding. There has to be a middle ground somewhere…